The Playlist

SXSW Review: Romain Gavras' 'Our Day Will Come' Is An Exhilarating Political Road Movie

By Drew Taylor
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March 21, 2011 9:15 AM
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0 Comments

Remember last summer when M.I.A. was trying to drum up attention for her ultimately underwhelming third album? There was the New York Times profile, the outrageous fashion decisions, and, most notably, the "controversial" video for "Born Free," directed by Romain Gavras (son of director Costa-Gavras). In the clip, redheaded kids were being rounded up and forced to march through landmine-strewn patches of earth, which at the time was seen as some kind of reaction to the stringent anti-immigration laws in Arizona or American xenophobia or… something. But it turns out that the music video is actually part of a larger work Romain Gavras is constructing, which includes his striking, often brilliant debut feature "Our Day Will Come."

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SXSW Review: 'Green' Tinged With The Color Of Lust

By Gabe Toro
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March 21, 2011 5:53 AM
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2 Comments

When you love someone, there’s the innate fear that they may find someone else. Someone mentally stronger, perhaps, or just more naturally kind. Or, in some cases, just different. What’s devastating is the change occurring within someone we thought we knew intimately. Is this the person we fell in love with? Is this the person who claims they know me better than anyone else?

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SXSW Review: Xavier Gens' 'The Divide' Is Silly, Clichéd Apocalyptic Trash

By Drew Taylor
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March 21, 2011 5:34 AM
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2 Comments

It seemed, to us at least, that there was a strangely apocalyptic cloud that was cast over many of the SXSW film festival selections – things like "Bellflower" all the way up to "Attack the Block" had a definite "end of days" feel. "The Divide" might have been the one movie to attack the material with the most heads-on gusto, with the movie opening with a hail of comet-like missiles laying waste to New York City. It's a striking image, for sure, but there's not much that equals it in the movie's labored, two-hour running time, either in terms of visual sophistication or crafting a sense of apocalyptic gloom. Instead, you'll be wondering why everything's so over-lit after the world's ended and why anyone would behave the way the characters do.

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SXSW Review: A Chance At Another Beginning Illuminates The Path To 'Another Earth'

By Gabe Toro
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March 19, 2011 5:26 AM
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3 Comments

At the start of “Another Earth,” there are two shocks administered to the audience. The first is that another planet has been discovered on the other side of the Sun, and it so closely resembles Earth that the brand new discovery is being referred to as Earth 2. This would be a galactic shocker, of course, but we are moved more by the second shock, which is the recklessness of teenaged Rhoda (Brit Marling), who drunkenly crashes her car into the vehicle of composer John (William Mapother). John survives, but his wife and child are now dead.

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Our 7 Favorite Films From The 2011 SXSW Film Festival

By The Playlist
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March 18, 2011 8:57 AM
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3 Comments

Once again, Austin, Texas and the SXSW Film Festival kicked our ass this year. One week of great weather, tex-mex, bbq, a little booze, a little music (Big Krit ruled) and a looooot of movies. For the third year in a row The Playlist team descended down on the coolest little town in Texas and were witness to a panoply of movies, documentaries, sci-fi pictures, disturbing horror films, deep and/or genre-tinged dramas (the latter seemed to be a trend), rock docs, feel-good dramedies, filthy comedies and more.

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SXSW: Simon Pegg & Nick Frost Reveal Bad Weather Was The Inspiration To Make 'Paul'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 18, 2011 6:21 AM
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Yes, it's Friday. SXSW Film is over, SXSW Music is in full boozy swing and "Paul" -- after running a helluva pace through the press gauntlet at the festival and in the preceding weeks -- is finally hitting theaters. And while it seems that the chatter and buzz around "Paul" has been non-stop, this is the rare case of the film that actually deserves it. Directed by Greg Mottola, the film is much more than it what appears to be combining the breeziness of a '70s road trip film, the magic of early Amblin entertainments and of course, the distinct humor of the film's leads Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who are joined by Seth Rogen who voices the titular creature. It's a winning combination in a unique film that brings together a tremendous ensemble cast to play along including Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver, Jeffrey Tambor, Joe Lo Truglio and Bill Hader.

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SXSW Review: 'Detention' Is Like A Narrative, Peyote-Fueled Manga Adaptation Of 'I Love The 90s'

By Gabe Toro
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March 18, 2011 4:49 AM
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2 Comments

What kind of movie is “Detention?”

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SXSW: The Importance Of Dogs To The Writing Process & More We Learned About Mike Mills' 'Beginners'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 18, 2011 3:44 AM
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As big fans of music video veteran Mike Mills' debut feature "Thumbsucker," we've been keenly awaiting a sophomore film from the director ever since, and when that film, "Beginners," premiered at Toronto last year, the word was comfortingly strong. But even that didn't quite prepare us for the experience of actually seeing it -- when we caught up with it for ourselves at SXSW, it immediately became one of our favorite films of the year thus far; our review said "it makes you sigh and swoon in equal measure."

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SXSW Review: Spike Jonze & Arcade Fire's 'Scenes From The Suburbs' An Intense Look At Fading Youth

By Drew Taylor
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March 18, 2011 1:20 AM
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1 Comment

While technically not a full-length feature, Spike Jonze's Arcade Fire music video/short film/spin-off/thingee "Scenes from the Suburbs" is one of the most hotly anticipated and frequently discussed entries in this year's SXSW line-up, so much so that they paired it with three other medium-length "shorts" and created a whole new distinction for them. (Since they're longer than shorts but shorter than features.) "What is it?", is the biggest question, but "Will it work?" was just as pressing.

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SXSW Exclusive: Zal Batmanglij & Brit Marling Talk The Cult Of 'Sound Of My Voice'

By Gabe Toro
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March 17, 2011 11:17 AM
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0 Comments

The story of recent the Sundance and SXSW hit “Sound Of My Voice” is pretty straightforward. Concerning a couple of documentary filmmakers who infiltrate a cult, the film, on paper, seems suspenseful and ripe for a penetrating insight into the nature of perception versus reality and an exploration of the idea of how we form bonds that unite us. But onscreen, “Sound Of My Voice” demands even more attention, as director Zal Batmanglij and co-writer and star Brit Marling have created something altogether haunting and unexpected (as we noted in our review). When plot elements surface suggesting that this may be a sort of “genre” picture, the execution is both immediate and ethereal. It feels only vaguely like a world we know, and as such, the tension only escalates, whether it’s an intense, obvious threat or an otherwise-mundane depiction of shower scrubbing.

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